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August 2005

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Lead Development Programs: More Sales, Higher ROI

by Mike Wallen, CEO, The Lead Dogs

Key take-aways:

• 40 - 60% of leads generated by a campaign are interested but not sales ready
• Lead nurturing can help close more of these "B" and "C" leads
• Tips for implementing a lead development program

Have you considered the true ROI on your direct marketing campaigns? Sure, you can say you generated a response of 2%, but that was probably based on only 10 - 20% of the leads being sales ready.

So what happened to the other 80 - 90%? Let's assume 10 - 20% of them were discarded during the qualification process. And the rest? They're probably sitting in your database waiting for sales to deal with (which means, they'll be forgotten in six months because your reps are busy closing sales).

Probing a little deeper, how much money did you spend to generate that 2%? Uh-huh. I bet you'd love to get more sales bang for your buck.

Last issue I explained how to improve campaign ROI by 3 - 5% with a lead development program. This month I give the steps to developing your own in-house program. With a lead development program in place, you can close more of the "B" and "C" prospects - those who aren't sales ready - without breaking the bank.

How to implement a lead development program

A good lead development program is based on what you already do - qualifying and tracking leads. However, instead of letting those warm leads go cold, you're going to do something with them. The steps in the process are:

1. Develop a good qualification process
   All leads should go through a lead scoring process based on feedback from sales. At The Lead Dogs, we use customized rubrics with scores ranging from 6-0. (A rubric is a scoring guide that provides criteria describing sales readiness.) Leads scoring "6" or "5," for example, are sent immediately to sales. Leads scoring "4," "3" or "2" are put into the lead nurturing bucket. A lead scoring "1" or "0" is discarded.
2. Develop a communication matrix for nurturable leads
   So now you have your bucket of interested, qualified prospects. Remember, these people have expressed interest, so they are valuable to you. Letting them sit forgotten in your database is a waste of your time and money - and it invites your competitors to come in and close the sale once they are ready to buy.

   A lead development program takes into account how these prospects want to be reached - whether by phone, email or direct mail - and when. For our clients, we develop a communication matrix - a valuable tool that helps us track and measure movement along the buying cycle. When developing a communication matrix for your company, keep in mind the following questions:

   • How long is our sales cycle?
   • When is it appropriate to call or email each prospect? (For longer sales cycles, once every three months is good; for shorter cycles, once every two months.)
   • What offers can we give to prospects and when?
   • What constitutes movement along the buying cycle? How will we track and measure it?
   • When are prospects falling out of the cycle and why?
3. Move prospects along the sales cycle with well-timed "touches"
   Prospects who are being nurtured are prime candidates for receiving invitations to Webinars or other events. If they've indicated they want to receive email from you, don't inundate them with "salesy" messages. Instead, send a link to a new white paper or report. Print and e-newsletters are also excellent methods for keeping in touch with prospects. Phone calls, if done well, allow you to answer any questions or send information the prospect is looking for to make a purchase decision.
4. Incorporate past inquiries into your lead development program
   Once you have your current prospects taken care of, go through your database and look for old inquiries and incorporate them into your lead development program. These prospects disengaged early on because you didn't have a lead development program in place. Now that you do, re-energize them with a reactivation campaign.

Next issue I'll cover ROI measurement tools and strategies and show how a Lead Dog client reached sales goals objectives with a lead development program.

10-second Sales Tip - Remember your manners when making cold calls

What's the number one way to achieve a higher cold call rate? Ask your prospects this simple question, "Is now a good time to talk?"

Let's face it - we all hate rude telemarketing calls, so don't subject your prospects to them. Train your call reps to follow this opening script when making calls:

"Good morning, Mr. IT Manager. I'm Joe Smith calling on behalf of Software Corporation. Is now a good time for you to talk?"

This simple question will open the door to many more conversations, guaranteed.

Not generating enough qualified sales leads?

Are you a B-to-B sales or marketing professional experiencing the following?

• Low response on direct mail or other marketing campaigns
• Poor inquiry-to-sales conversion rates
• Salespeople complaining about too many "tire kickers"
• No leads at all

If you answered "yes," then maybe you need a bigger dog - The Lead Dogs! Call us today at 800-710-2926 or drop us a line at info@leaddogs.com and learn how we can get you the high-quality B-to-B leads that turn into the sales.